


Chocolate

by slpblue



Series: The AU™ [2]
Category: All Time Low (Band), Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Bandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22341019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slpblue/pseuds/slpblue
Summary: Eros and Rian meet.
Relationships: Jack Barakat/Zack Merrick, Rian Dawson/Eros, Rian Dawson/Original Male Character(s)
Series: The AU™ [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1385668
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Chocolate

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of context:
> 
> \- Mer bite as a means of showing affection, like how people kiss.  
> \- Jack and Zack are Bonded, which means they can essentially communicate telepathically.  
> \- Zack is the king of the mer (which makes Jack queen hehehe).
> 
> That's pretty much it. Enjoy!

Eros is busy going through paperwork from the office, glasses perched on the end of his nose, when the phone rings.

Eros pops into the living room and picks up. “Hello?”

“Guess who got into the pantry, ate an entire bag of chocolate, and is now experiencing the extreme intestinal pains of food poisoning?” Jack says of way of greeting.

Eros smiles and sits down on his couch, cradling the receiver on his shoulder and putting his feet up. “He’s like a dog.”

“A dog who should know better than to stuff his face with chocolate,” Jack grumbles.

“Do you want me to come over?” Eros asks, examining his fingers. He frowns when he notices his nail polish has chipped.

Jack sighs. “If you want. It’s easier to complain in person.”

Eros hangs up without answering, sets his glasses on the end table next to the phone, and teleports to Jack’s kitchen, where he sits perched on the counter like a little bird. “Where is he?” he asks Jack, who jumps sightly and swears, then puts the phone down.

“I’m never going to get used to that,” Jack complains.

“Sure you will. Where’s Zack?” Eros repeats.

“In the living room. Rian is on his way over too.”

Eros perks up. “Your doctor friend?” He’s heard a lot about Rian, via counseling sessions and, later, as their friendship developed, gossip between him and Jack, but he’s never met him.

“Yeah—” Jack is cut off by the door buzzing. “That’s actually probably him.”

Eros hops off the counter, bare feet padding softly on the tile, and wanders after Jack as he goes to open the door. What he assumes is Rian’s voice floats in through the door. “Has he been sick?”

“Mer can’t throw up, actually. I thought  _ you _ were supposed to be the doctor?” Jack’s tone is joking.

“It’s not my fault that mer biology hasn’t undergone decades of research. Plus, as only half fish, I _can_ throw up,” Rian responds, stepping around Jack and into the hall. He pushes a hand through his hair, which is wet. “Should have brought an umbrella.”

“You’re 'half fish', what do you need to keep the rain off you for?” Jack shoots back.

“Is that any way to treat your physician?” Rian scolds, but Eros has stopped paying attention to what he’s saying. He’s too busy watching his shoulders as he shrugs out of his jacket, and the way the muscles in his arms bunch under tattoos as he hangs it up. Rian tucks his thumbs into the waistband of his worn-looking jeans and hoists them up a bit. Eros doesn’t think he’s ever so blatantly stared at a stranger’s ass in his entire life.

Rian catches his eye and smiles. Eros is almost too blinded by the glaringly white shine of his teeth to respond when Rian holds out his hand to him. “Rian Dawson,” he introduces himself warmly.

“Eros,” Eros says, taking his hand. His skin is warm, calloused without being overly rough. He has drummer’s hands. Eros wonders if he drums. “God of love,” he adds awkwardly, a second later. Sometimes—not often, but sometimes—Eros wishes he had a last name, a  _ real _ last name, that he could introduce himself with and not sound like an idiot. Now is one of those times. He feels intimidated by Rian, but not necessarily in a bad way. More in a you’re-really-hot-and-I-forgot-how-to-talk way. He wants to make a good impression.

“Nice to meet you, Eros.” Eros decides he very much enjoys the way his name sounds on Rian’s lips. “Jack never shuts up about you. It’s good to put a face to the name.”

“Likewise,” Eros says smoothly, regaining his composure. He adjusts his stance to jut out his hip, and he tosses his hair out of his eyes, trying to appear more attractive without even realizing it.

Rian breaks their gaze after a moment and looks to Jack. “Where is he?” he inquires. His eyes flick back to Eros momentarily.

As if summoned, Zack slouches into the room, making soft noises of pain. He completely ignores the other two men and makes a beeline for Jack, wrapping his arms around his waist from behind and pressing his teeth into Jack’s shoulder. Jack leans back into his touch subconsciously. “Here, apparently.”

Rian laughs. “Zack, we all know you can’t eat human food.”

Zack opens his eyes, squinting to bring his gaze into focus. “I wanted to try it,” he mumbles around a mouthful of Jack’s shoulder. Eros watches as his hands slide from their place on Jack’s stomach to slip under the hem of his shirt, and Jack sucks in a breath, smacking his hand and giving him a soft “Stop it, we have guests.”

“Because an entire bag of Lindor chocolate is ‘trying’ it,” Rian says doubtfully.

Zack narrows his eyes and lifts his head from Jack’s shoulder. “It tasted good.”

Rian takes half a step back, as if against his will. Eros almost forgets his nearly painful physical attraction and watches their interaction with interest. Rian is half mer, which means Zack is at least half his king, whether Rian knows it or not.

“Let’s just see what we can do about the food poisoning,” Rian says softly, cutting his eyes away, an instinctual recognition of Zack’s superiority. Zack smiles, pleased, and goes back to gnawing on Jack.

Eros follows them all back into the kitchen. He doesn’t pay much attention as Rian does his doctor thing, taking Zack’s vitals and giving him a warm glass of saltwater to calm his stomach. He’s too busy watching his fingers move, and noticing the way his jaw is defined when he turns his head a certain way.

“There’s not really much I can do,” Rian finally admits, writing furiously in a notebook he’s pulled out. “You’ve already eaten it.” He looks up and smiles. Eros feels his heart stutter at how pretty he is. “Thanks to you though, I now know how mer react to a  _ variety _ of different human foods. Thanks for being my official unofficial test subject, Zack.”

Zack grumbles. “If you tell me to just—not eat it next time—”

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Rian starts packing his things. “Stop being dumb and your digestive system will stop feeling like hell.” At Zack’s exasperated expression he’s quick to add, “Look, Zack, I just don’t want you accidentally poisoning yourself.”

“Yeah,” Jack adds, deadpan. “The stomachaches are bad enough—I don’t want to have to deal with secondhand poisoning too.”

At Jack’s words, Zack finally looks properly admonished. Since his Bond with Jack is so strong, they each feel what the other does. When Zack gets sick, so does Jack. Zack makes eye contact with Rian. “Thank you.”

Rian looks exceptionally proud of himself, then confused as to why he feels so pleased. “You’re, uh, welcome.” He checks the time. “If there are no other medical emergencies, I’d better get going. My dissertation isn’t going to write itself.”

“Dissertation?” Eros asks, before he can stop himself.

Rian looks over at Eros, and Eros finds that he’s missed the attention from him for the past several minutes. His mouth turns up at the side. “For my PhD.”

“Well, yes,” Eros stumbles. He knows how school works. “I have one of those myself.”

Rian looks pleasantly surprised, standing up from the table. “So you’re  _ literally _ a love doctor, then.”

Eros lets out a startled laugh. “Piss off.”

“Let me get the door for you,” Jack says, leading him back to the front. He’s watching Eros strangely.

“It was nice to meet you,” Rian says, stopping just before he leaves.

Eros smiles, soft. “You too.”

“See you around, Rian,” Jack says.

Rian looks startled, almost like he’d forgotten that Jack was even there. “Oh—yeah, you too.”

Jack closes the door soon after, then grabs Eros’ arm and drags him into the kitchen.

“Jack—what the fuck are you—”

“Shut up, listen to me.” Jack holds out his hand to Zack, who procures Rian’s notebook from out of nowhere and hands it to him.

“How did you—”

“ _ Listen to me _ .” Jack throws open a drawer full of miscellaneous odds and ends and rummages around for a pen. “We don’t have much time. Aha!” He flips open Rian’s notebook to the next blank page and starts scribbling.

“What are you—”

Jack looks up, slamming the notebook closed, and hands it to Eros. “Go give this to Rian.”

“What—”

“ _ Go! _ ”

Eros jumps, takes the notebook, and teleports to just outside the front door, where Rian yelps, just about to buzz again. “What the  _ f _ —”

“Sorry!” Eros squeaks. “Sorry.” He swallows, collecting himself, then holds out Rian’s notebook. “You forgot something.”

Rian smiles, although he’s still looking at him a little weirdly. “Thanks. Did you just—?”

“Teleport. Yes.” Eros smiles back, ignoring the way his heart is kick-drumming it’s way out of his chest.

Rian shakes his head. “Teleport. Crazy.” He pauses. “I—” and starts over. “I really do have to go. It was nice to see you.” His smile this time is soft and genuine.

“It was nice to see you too,” Eros echoes. He decides, as Rian bounds down the Barakats’ front steps, that as much as he hates to see Rian go, he likes to watch him leave.

Back in Jack’s kitchen, Eros crosses his arms. “What did you write in Rian’s notes?”

Jack looks up from where Zack’s hands are creeping back under his shirt. He’s sitting on the kitchen table, Zack between his legs. He grins smugly. “Your phone number.”

“Oh, I— _ what!? _ ” Eros yelps.

Jack rolls his eyes, breath hitching as Zack runs his fingers over his body. Eros is too panicked to care that if he sticks around he’s about to watch them have sex. “Relax,” Jack drawls. “I could tell that you both liked each other. Let someone else play Cupid for once.”

“Don’t call me Cupid,” Eros says weakly. “Jack…”

“He might not call you,” Jack says, trying to be helpful. It’s not helpful.

“Jack,” Eros says, his voice higher. Rian not calling would almost be worse than if he did.

“Just don’t—don’t pick up.” Jack pushes on Zack’s chest when he starts to bite him harder to get him to slow down for a second.

Eros makes a helpless noise, completely ignoring the way Zack is diligently trying to push Jack’s shirt up.

“Better go home,” Jack adds, “you never know when he might ring.”

“Fuck you,” Eros says, distressed. He flips Jack off. “I hope you can’t walk tomorrow.”

“Fuck  _ yo _ —” but Eros is gone before Jack can finish. He paces his living room a few times, shooting anxious glances at the phone. Eros sits down on his couch with a huff, resigning himself to being glued to his phone for the next several days. Sometimes he just really hates Jack Barakat. He takes a breath. But he also really loves him. And, not that he’d ever admit it, he might be just a tiny bit thankful for Jack giving Rian his number.


End file.
